Display box



March 24, 1936. A. E. KEPPLER DISPLAY BOX Filed Oct. 16, 1955' v IN VEN T01? fllez'fg Kepp A??? WITNESS Patented Mar. 24, 1936 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE DISPLAY BOX Application October 16, 1935, Serial No. 45,210

10 Claims.

cut away to provide an opening extending downwardly from its upper edge to expose portions of the packages to view when the box is open.

It is with boxes of this character that the present invention is concerned.

In the manufacture of the blanks from which such boxes are constructed, a portion of the material which is to form the front wall is removed so that when the blank is subsequently set up the desired opening will be properly located in that wall, but so far as I am aware no attempt has hitherto been made to conceal the raw edges of the material bounding the opening which present a more or less unsightly aspect and detract from the otherwise pleasing appearance of the box as a whole.

A principal object of the present invention therefore, is the provision of a foldable box formed from a single blank and having an opening or void in its front wall bounded by folded edges, as distinguished from cut or otherwise severed edges, of the blank material.

3 A further object of the invention is the provision of a display box of the general character of those to which the invention relates comprising an opening in its front wall and flaps hinged to the body of the wall adjacent the boundaries 35 of the opening, whereby when the flaps are bent inwardly into substantially parallel relation with the wall the edges of the opening are defined by folds between adjacent plies of material and thus present a smooth, finished and pleasing appearance.

A still further object of the invention is to improve the attractiveness of display boxes in which the front wall is provided with a' cut-out extending downwardly from its upper edge to 45 afford opening through which portions of the contents of the box are visible by so forming the box blank that when it is set up, folded, as distinguished from raw or cut, edges are provided at the boundaries of. this opening. 1

Other objects, purposes and advantages of the invention will be understood or will appear from the following description of a preferred and a modified embodiment thereof in which reference will be had to the accompanying drawing, in

which Fig. 1 is a blank from which the box may be formed,

Fig. 2, on a larger scale, is a side elevation partially in central vertical section of the formed-up box in display position, 5

Fig. 3 is a vertical section of the box on the line 3-3 in Fig. 2 looking in the direction of the arrows, and

Fig. 4 is a fragmentary top plan View of the front portion of the box, while Fig. 5 is a view corresponding to Fig. 3 but showing a slightly different arrangement of the front of the box for which a blank of slightly modified form may be employed.

In the several figures like characters are used to designate the same parts.

The blank as shown in Fig. 1 is preferably formed from a single sheet of cardboard or like suitable material and provided with cuts or openings, indicated by solid lines, and with scores along which the blank is to be folded, indicated by dot and dash lines. These cuts and scored lines define a substantially rectangular bottom I with sides 2, 3, front 4 and back 5, hinged thereto along intervening score lines, the sides having rear locking flaps 6, I hinged to their rear edges and top flaps 8, 9 hinged to their outer edges. The rear locking flaps 6, l are respectively provided with a slot I and a cut out II, the latter defining a lock tongue l2 adapted to enter the slot ll] after the box is formed up by folding the front, back and sides to vertical position relatively to the bottom and the rear locking flaps inwardly against the back whereby these flaps assist in supporting the back in position.

A lid I is hinged to the back at one edge and has a closing tongue It at its opposite edge for insertion in the box just back of the front wall when the box is closed. The lid may also be provided with transverse scores ll, l8 interconnected by an arcuate cut I9 to facilitate insertion of the tongue l6 adjacent the back of the box and permit the lid to be used for display of advertising copy or the like when open, as shown in Fig. 2.

Extending from the front edges of the sides are front locking flaps 20, 2| which are folded inwardly behind the front when the box is formed up, and are cut out as shown at their ends so that when a front extension 22 on the front wall is folded down over them it can engage them adjacent their hinged ends to assist in locking them in position while their inner extremities are concealed from View by the overlying front as best shown in Fig. 3.

The front is scored transversely midway of its 55 ends at 23, angularly scored at 24, 25 and angularly cut at 26, 21 to define triangular flaps 28, 29 and a truncated triangular flap 3U, transversely scored to form a locking tab 3| and the extension 22 is cut out to form an opening bounded by angular edges 32, 33 and a transversely extending edge 34 adapted to align with the opening in the front wall resulting from inward folding of the flaps 28, 29 and 30 when the box is formed up. The extension 22 is desirably provided with slots 35, 36 respectively parallelled with the edges 32, 33 adapted to receive the ends of triangular flaps 28, 29 and the outer edge of the extension 22 carries a locking flap 38 cooperative with a hinged semicircular tongue 40 in the box bottom to hold the extension in locking position relatively to the front and in embracing relation with the front locking flaps 20, 2| carried by the sides. In the modified embodiment of the invention shown in Fig. 5 the slots 35, 36 are omitted.

After the front, back and sides of the box have been folded up and the front extension folded inwardly and downwardly and locked in position as heretofore indicated, the triangular flaps 28, 29 are desirably folded inwardly over the angular edges 32, 33 of the extension and their extremities inserted in the slots 35, 36 to hold them in place while the flap 3D is folded inwardly, downwardly and then reversely on the score 3| and its extremity inserted under the tongue 40.

The flaps 28, 29 and 30 thus assist in holding the front wall and its extension together in embracing relation to the front locking flaps 20, 2| and provide smoothly folded edges at the boundaries of the opening or depression in the front of the box, thus presenting a pleasing finished appearance to these edges and enhancing the effectiveness of the box for display purposes.

In some instances, however, it may be considered unessential to hold the front and its extension thus closely or that the operation of inserting the flaps in the slots requires more time and effort than is warranted by the advantage thereby attained. If so, the slots 35, 36 may be omitted from the blank, and the flaps 28, 29 and 33 folded inwardly upon the side locking flaps so that the front extension may then be folded down over them and locked in the manner above described and when this is done the front portion of the box appears as shown in Fig. 5. However, I do not consider this a preferred arrangement for the reason, among others, that while providing folded edges at the boundaries of the opening in the front, it leaves the cut edges 32, 33, 34 in the extension 22 uncovered, and this may detract somewhat from the appearance of the box.

Or, as will be readily apparent, when a blank having the slots 35, 36 is employed, the flap 39 may be disposed between the extension 22 and the front wall instead of behind the extension, but I deem this arrangement as less desirable in that it leaves the adjacent cut edge of the extension exposed.

It will be understood that while I have disclosed different ways in which boxes embodying my invention may be constructed and arranged, I do not desire or intend to limit or confine myself thereby or thereto in any way as other changes and modifications in the form, construction and arrangement of the several parts may be made if desired without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as defined in the appended claims.

Having thus described my invention, I claim and desire to protect by Letters Patent of the United States:

1. A display box of the character described comprising a bottom, front, back and side walls, locking tongues hinged to the front edges of the side walls and extending inwardly therefrom in substantial parallelism with the front, an extension hinged at spaced points to the upper edge of the front extending behind and downwardly therefrom to the bottom and having an opening between said hinged points, and a plurality of flaps carried by the front engaging said extension adjacent the edges of said opening and providing folded edges in substantial registry therewith.

2. A display box of the character described comprising a bottom, front, back and side walls, locking tongues hinged to the front edges of the side walls and extending inwardly therefrom in substantial parallelism with the front, an extension hinged at spaced points to the upper edge of the front extending behind and downwardly therefrom to the bottom and having an opening between said hinged points, and a plurality of flaps carried by the front folded inwardly therefrom to lie adjacent the extension and form by displacement of said flaps from the plane of the front an opening therein in alignment with the opening in the extension and defined by smoothly finished folded edges.

3. A display box of the character described comprising a bottom, back and side walls and a front having separated fiaps respectively bent inward out of the plane of the front to thereby form an opening therein extending downwardly from its upper edge, said front also having an extension, hinged to its upper edge on both sides of the opening, bent inwardly and downwardly into substantial parallelism with the front adjacent said flaps and provided with an opening in substantial alignment with the opening in the front, and means for locking said extension to the bottom of the box.

4. A display box of the class described comprising bottom, back and side walls and a front, said front having a plurality of separated front flaps bent inwardly into substantial parallelism therewith to form an opening therein extending downwardly from its upper edge, locking flaps carried by the front edges of the side walls and respectively bent inwardly into substantial parallelism with the front, and an extension hinged to the front at points spaced laterally outward of the opening therein and bent inwardly and downwardly into substantial parallelism therewith behind the locking flaps, and means locking one of said front flaps to the bottom of the box.

5. A display box of the class described comprising bottom, back and side walls and a front, said front having a plurality of separated front flaps bent inwardly into substantial parallelism therewith to form an opening therein extending downwardly from its upper edge, locking flaps carried by the front edges of the side walls and respectively bent inwardly into substantial parallelism with the front, and an extension hinged to the front at points spaced laterally outward of the opening therein and bent inwardly and downwardly into substantial parallelism therewith behind the locking flaps, means locking one of said front flaps to the bottom of the box, and means locking the other of said flaps to the extension, all said flaps respectively overlying edges of the opening in the extension.

6. A display box of the character described comprising a bottom, front, back and. side walls, locking tongues hinged to the front edges of the side walls and extending inwardly therefrom in substantial parallelism with the front, an extension hinged at spaced points to the upper edge of the front extending behind and downwardly therefrom to the bottom and having an opening between said hinged points, a plurality of flaps carried by the front respectively overlying adjacent edges of said opening and cooperative with the front to embrace said extension, and means locking certain of said flaps to the extension.

'7. A display box of the class described comprising a bottom, side and back walls and a front, said front being out to provide a central flap and substantially triangular fiaps laterally disposed with respect thereto, locking flaps carried by the side walls respectively bent inwardly adjacent the front, an extension hinged tothe upper edge of the front at points spaced outwardly of the flaps having an opening between said points, said extension being bent downwardly behind the locking flaps into substantial parallelism with the front and at least one of said front flaps being bent inwardly over the extension to substantially cover an edge of the opening therein, and means for locking the central front flap to the bottom of the box.

8. A flat blank adapted to be formed up into a display box and comprising cuts and scores defining a bottom, back and side walls, a front, an extension projecting therefrom having an opening extending into its body from its line of connection with the front, flaps defined from the body of the front by scores and from each other by cuts adapted to be bent into substantial parallelism with the front to form an opening therein complementary to that in the extension, and cooperative locking means for holding the extension in place when bent into substantial parallelism with the front adjacent said flaps.

9. A fiat blank adapted to be formed up into a display box and comprising cuts and scores defining a bottom, back and side Walls, a front, an extension hinged to the front adjacent its lateral edges and having an opening extending into its body between its points of connection therewith, flaps defined from the body of the front by scores and from each other by cuts adapted to be bent into substantial parallelism with the front to form an opening therein complementary to that in the extension, the extension having slots adjacent its opening adapted to receive certain of said flaps, and cooperative locking means for holding the extension in substantially parallel relation with the front after it has been brought thereto.

10. A flat blank adapted to be formed up into a display box and comprising cuts and scores defining a bottom, back and side Walls, a front, an extension projecting therefrom having an opening extending into its body from its edge adjacent the front and a locking flap at its opposite edge, fiaps defined from the body of the front by scores and from each other by cuts adapted to be bent into substantial parallelism with the front toform an opening therein complementary to that in the extension, a locking flap on one of said said front flaps and a locking tab on the bottom adapted for cooperation with said locking flaps to hold the extension and said front flap in substantially parallel relation to the front after 

